BGI Accreditations

BGI received permission for the name from the Ministry of Industry in 1999.

The BGI worked for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) that has a Government Diamond Office Department, taking part in discussions about the Kimberley Process which is a way to protect buyers from buying conflict diamonds.

The BGI has been chosen by old established or State organisations such as:

Christies Auctioneers

Cartier Jewellers

HM Customs & Police

Willis & Co global Fine Art & Specie Lloyds insurers

UK Govt. Diamond Office at The Foreign Office

Finnie’s The Jewellers

Moussaieff Jewellers

QVC Shopping Channel

Petrou Antiques

Beverley Hills Jewellers

HY Duke Auctioneers

The BGI is therefore consulted by the Police and Customs as well as SOCA and anti-fraud agencies around the world about gem value and authenticity.

During the colour grading process the gem is matched to Official GIA Master stones supplied by Lazare Kaplan in New York for an internationally recognised quality.

The BGI is accredited by the United Kingdom Government Dept. of Trade & Industry (DTI) based in London.

The BGI Laboratory Precision Grading System was developed in 1998. This method achieves higher accuracy by refining each colour into finer 1% sub-divisions. This is claimed to be the most accurate system in the world, and out of 4 UK labs assessed by the NAG some years ago, only the BGI was 100% correct in every grade for every stone.

The above BGI Grading Schematic shows the quality of each diamond from BGI grades 1-11; 1 is the highest grade. This visual measure of quality is the first developed in over 80 years of global diamond grading.